Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 648

Chapter 648: Chapter 645: Restoring Calm Chapter 648: Chapter 645: Restoring Calm Flames surged upward.

It was as if a mountainous spring of flames erupted from the darkness, the last remnants of the World Tree were instantly turned to ashes and phantoms within the flames, and then the fire meandered and flowed, transforming into a boundless sea of fire in the dark chaotic space–burning away the final boundaries of The Dream of the Nameless and bringing everything back to their “correct place” in the realm of reality.

The Endless Sea appeared, its boundless waters rippling under the flame's swell, and the sky emerged, driving away the darkness above the flames, gradually brightening. The City-State materialized, its solid form crafted in the surging of the flames and every lamp was gradually lit as the flames diminished.

The whole world seemed to “float up” from the darkness, slowly emerging from the sea of fire, and once again merged with the dimension of reality. Duncan, standing at the bow of Homeloss, watched all this unfold. For some reason, he was suddenly reminded of the ancient legends of the Elves–from the very first Dreamscape of Saslouka, every worldly element was shaped from the dark chaos.

The scene before him appeared as though the “Creation” from the legends was occurring once again.

At the end of this creation, sunlight appeared over the vast blue sea.

The flames had unknowingly dwindled, and the morning sunlight was stretching from afar, magnificently covering the boundless ocean and the gradually awakening Light Breeze Harbor. The nightmare was receding, and all that had been swallowed by the nightmare would return to the real world at sunrise–the elements that had momentarily resurfaced in the dreamscape were now resetting to their original state.

A giant black goat strode across the waves, reaching the side of the Homeloss in a single step; this ancient deity, once seen as the “creator,” slightly bowed its head, pressing its sharp horn against the towering mast.

A hint of pale green flame danced at the tip of its horn, returning to the Homeloss.

“I return the flame to you, Captain.”

“Actually, I could have done it myself,” Duncan watched the black goat, “you didn't need to…”
“But it was most appropriate for me to do it myself,” the black goat shook its head, “a long, long time ago, I created her, and now it is fitting that I see her off on her final journey.”

Duncan didn't speak, merely nodding slightly.

“…there's no need for regret,” the black goat spoke again, “it was bound to happen. In some ways, it had, in fact, happened long before the Age of Deep Seas began–Silantis had ceased to exist then. What appeared in the nightmare was nothing but an uncontrollable shadow, letting that shadow grow would've been the greatest dishonor to her. And…”
It suddenly paused, and Duncan, curious, prompted, “And?”

The black goat seemed to smile, “And… you have already taken her away, haven't you?”

At this comment, Duncan raised an eyebrow; he immediately understood the meaning behind Saslouka's words, and this surprised him, “It seems you've noticed something.”

“Not clearly, but I can vaguely sense it,” the black goat slowly said, its eyes reflecting the pale green flames rising from Homeloss's deck. Not long before, it had briefly been granted those flames and from them felt a hint of Duncan's true power, “Your flame has taken Silantis to a 'place' that I cannot comprehend. I do not know where it is, but my intuition tells me, it is a fine place for my little sapling to have a good rest.”

The sunlight grew brighter, and the splendid double Rune Circle of Illusion 001 was slowly rising above sea level, the morning sun shining on the black goat's body, giving its immense form a crystal-like, translucent surreal quality.

“The dream is over–it's time to return to my duties,” the black goat lifted its head, gazing at Illusion 001 in the distance with a tone of nostalgia, “they have truly built something remarkable…”
In the next second, the body of the black goat quietly burst within the morning glow, like a soap bubble pierced under sunlight, silently dissipating into the wind.

Duncan stood dumbfounded on deck for a moment, then turned his head to look at Rune who was standing not too far away–the old elf's body had returned to its normal form. He was slightly bent, standing in the light, his expression still somewhat dazed.

“I thought you would come over and greet Saslouka,” Duncan casually said, “This is your mythical creator in your legends, and you might be the last elf to see its divine form–I certainly don't have enough energy to let it often return to its mythic form.”

Rune finally snapped out of his daze, sluggishly glanced at Duncan, and after a moment, suddenly slapped his forehead in annoyance, “Ah! I just didn't realize it in time!”

Duncan: “…”
After a two-second pause, the corner of his mouth twitched, “No big deal, you can still communicate with him, but from now on, you'll just have to go to the captain's quarters to chat with my deputy, Goat Head.”

After saying this, he didn't heed the Pope's suddenly subtle expression and waved his hand, heading towards the deck.

Nina had already happily run over, “Uncle Duncan!”

Duncan raised his hand to catch the little “sun” that jumped from the air, then he looked up at the others coming this way.

“Light Breeze Harbor seems to have recovered,” Fenna appeared before him, pointing a hand toward the City-State bathing in sunlight nearby, “It's just that I'm not sure about the situation in the city now.”

“I'll go check the situation in the city once we dock,” Lucia said. “In theory, according to the patterns of The Dream of the Nameless, everything should revert back after the dream ends, but the scale of this incident was really large, so there might be some 'aftereffects' left.”

Morris also came over, his gaze falling in a different direction–the “Church Ship,” resembling a miniature City-State, was coming through the waves, clearly aiming for the Homeloss, which was still on the sea's surface.

“The Academy Ark is approaching,” Morris said. “It looks like they want to communicate.”

“That's normal. Their 'Pope' is still on our ship,” Duncan said, lifting his hand to point at Rune, who was walking toward the captain's cabin. “Good timing, you should also greet your mentor. It must have been many years since you've seen him in the real world.”

Morris nodded and walked toward the captain's cabin.

Duncan then turned to look at Fenna, asking with a bit of concern, “Are you sure you're alright? Don't you need to go back to your room and rest properly?”

He vividly remembered, when this beautiful young warrior was first brought back to the ship, she was completely exhausted, even walking was difficult, but now she looked lively again.

Fenna also glanced down at her own body, jumped on the spot twice, moved her limbs back and forth, and then patted her chest, a proud smile on her face: “I'm fine, I just rested for a while just now. I've fully recovered.”

Duncan's lips twitched, he didn't know what to say for a moment. Meanwhile, Sherry muttered softly in amazement: “Damn, athletes are awesome… Let the sun burn me twenty-seven times, sit on the deck and rest for a while, and I'm freaking recovered…”

“It was twenty-eight times,” Fenna corrected seriously right away. “I was a bit confused from the heat earlier, I undercounted when I told you.”

Duncan: “…?”

He watched speechlessly as Fenna and Sherry walked away while chatting about “whether it's twenty-seven times or twenty-eight times”, and it took him a long while to shake his head, smiling.

“Really nice.”

He heard Alice saying softly not far away.

Duncan turned around and saw the doll lady sitting on a large wooden barrel at the edge of the deck–her face towards the direction of the sunlight, lifting her head and squinting her eyes, letting the sunlight cover her face, her legs gently swinging on the edge of the barrel, her body swaying slightly.

“Really nice…” she murmured again.

“What's really nice?” Duncan walked over and suddenly asked next to the doll.

Alice let out a gasp, nearly falling off the barrel on the spot, only calming down when she saw it was Duncan. She casually grabbed his arm to steady herself: “You startled me.”

Duncan laughed, patting the doll lady's hair: “What are you sighing about?”

“Just the usual stuff is really nice,” Alice thought for a moment, lifting her hand towards the direction of the City-State. “There's no fire, no strange trees, everything looks familiar, the ship has returned to the calm sea, no need to fly over the eerie and terrifying forest… I can wipe the deck like usual, and go back to the kitchen to cook.”

Saying this, the doll lady seemed to suddenly remember something, immediately jumped down from the barrel, running toward the distance without looking back at Duncan, waving her hands: “The sun is up! I need to make breakfast! Captain, you wait for me!”

Duncan watched amused and bewildered as the Gothic doll ran across the deck, watching her get tripped by a rope that suddenly emerged, bumping between Sherry and Ah Dog, causing a commotion of clucking and scampering, and Fenna quickly running to find the doll's head that had rolled somewhere…

Almost in the blink of an eye, the Homeloss was lively once again, just like its usual “bustling” self.

After a long while, Duncan shook his head smiling, and after taking another look at the large wooden barrel Alice was sitting on, he kicked the edge of the barrel: “Do you also think it's nice to return to normal?”

The barrel shook a bit on the spot, and the lid suddenly popped open.

Inside, stuffed completely full, was an entire barrel of Wave Amulets.

Used by the athlete as a container for Amulets, and by the doll as a chair, and possibly at any moment as Ah Dog's desk for doing homework and Sherry's target for random carving, the barrel didn't seem too happy.

Duncan's expression was slightly uneasy, as he silently put the lid back on the barrel.

Then he too sat on top of the barrel, quietly gazing at the distant sunlight.

The world had returned to tranquility, if only for a moment–but it was nice.

Chapter end

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